1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rotatable stands for holding musical instruments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Musicians who play woodwind instruments in a crowded area such as a night club or in an orchestra pit in a theater, frequently play a number of instruments such as a clarinet, an oboe, a saxophone, the English horn, a flute, an alto flute, and a piccolo. This has presented a problem as to how to dispose the several instruments alongside the musician for ready access. While stands have been provided for holding the instruments in position to be picked up and played by the musician one after another as dictated by the score of the musical composition being performed, the previous stands have not been convenient to use, nor have they been safe. With such stands it is easy to knock the instruments off the stands in a crowded, tight, often dark area, such as an orchestra pit. Specifically, in moving from one musical instrument to another during a performance, a musician has had to reach over the instruments on the stand in returning to the stand the instrument that has just been played and also in picking up the instrument that is to be played next. This has required the musician to exercise great care to avoid knocking down all of the instruments and damaging them.
Proposals made in the prior art for holding musical instruments are disclosed in the following U.S. patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,888,927--A. S. Lang--Issued Nov. 22, 1932 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,900,718--A. S. Lang--Issued Mar. 7, 1932 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,559,739--S. H. Sherman--Issued July 10, 1951 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,298--J. N. Sumrall--Issued Aug. 31, 1965 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,462--E. A. Sheftel--Issued July 19, 1977 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,950--F. Glantz--Issued Mar. 27, 1979
The Lang patents disclose a combined carrying case and holder for musical instruments, the holder accommodating but two instruments, a saxophone and a clarinet. Similarly, the Sumrall patent discloses a combined carrying case and holder, the holder accommodating but two clarinets although storage space for several reeds is also provided. The holder of the Sherman patent is for musical instrument accessories such as horn mutes and maracas and comprises several wire arms and loops, the holder being attachable to the post of a music rack. The Sheftel patent shows a rack for holding a plurality of musical instruments and the Glantz patent discloses another non-rotatable rack with the individual instruments arranged in a circle.
Thus, there exists a need for a musical instrument stand that will accommodate a number of different woodwind musical instruments that are played by musicians, a stand that is more convenient for use by musicians as they move quickly from one instrument to another during a performance, and that supports the instruments in stable manner while preventing damaging thereof.